truly exceptional museum quality late 19th or early 20th century deeply carved basswood amusement park carousel chariot side mythical creature artifact. the allover crazed polychrome enameled finish is possibly original or an early repaint. the figural dragon or sea creature was salvaged from an early 20th century amusement park carousel chariot. the amusement park fragment was possibly executed by the denzel brothers. the american folk art piece or panel remains largely intact. a custom-built backboard was added to secure and stabilize the delicate piece. a carousel consists of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. the "seats" are traditionally in the form of rows of wooden horses or other animals mounted on posts, many of which are moved up and down via gearwork to simulate galloping, to the accompaniment of looped circus music. carousels in america from earlier periods, frequently include diverse varieties of mounts, like pigs, zebras, mythological creatures (such as dragons, sea monsters or unicorns), and deer, to name a few. sometimes, chair or bench-like seats are used as well, and occasionally mounts can be shaped like airplanes or cars, though these do not always go up and down. although the carousel developed gradually in european countries such as germany, france, england, and italy, it did not reach its full scale development until it went into its american phase. this began with several makers, primarily gustav dentzel, michael dentzel's son, of germany, and dare from england. michael dentzel sent all four of his sons over to america in the 1850s, one of them, gustav, with a full and complete large carousel packed away on the steamship. in early 1860 gustav set up his family's carousel in philadelphia to test the american market. it met with great success. at the same time he opened up a carousel and cabinet workshop in germantown. this eventually became the headquarters for one of america's greatest carousel-making families. shortly after this beginning other carousel makers from europe began to arrive on american shores. many fine woodcarvers and painters, classically trained in their european homeland, worked for these early american companies. the dentzels, being of german origin, also employed other germans such as the muller brothers and also many italians, such as salvador chernigliaro. the first carousel to be seen in the united states was created in hessville, ohio during the 1840s by franz wiesenhoffer. several centers and styles for the construction of carousels emerged in the united states, philadelphia style, with dentzel and the philadelphia toboggan company, coney island style with charles carmel, charles i. d. looff, marcus charles illions, soloman stein and harry goldstein and mangels, country fair style with allan herschell and edward spillman of upstate new york, and c.w. parker of kansas. early on the dentzels became known for their beautiful horses and lavish use of menagerie animals on their carousels. their mechanisms were also considered among the very best for durability and reliability. gustav's sons, william and edward operated the company until william's death in 1927 at which time the company was auctioned off. by this time many carousel companies had gone out of business or diversified into other rides due to the hardships of the depression. measures 41 x 28 inches.